Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hello.

Nothing really more to report on the Coronavirus pandemic here in Oregon, but reading the numbers they just keep going up and up. We just keep wearing masks, social distancing from others, and only going out for supplies. Our emergency stock of food is almost gone. I'm pretty upset about that; it took awhile to build that up. But, I can't be too upset, it is the reason why you have a stock, to use it in emergencies and I think this is an emergency. There are a few items in there that needed to be rotated out, anyway, so it's a good thing we were able to go through those before they expired. Otherwise, we've just been staying at home and not going out as frequently. Jeff has been still coming in through the garage entrance and keeping things clean otherwise. The sun was out all week and we got a chance to actually go outside and enjoy some of it. It's been really dry here, though, so we've been watering a lot more than normal. Hopefully, it won't be too dry of a summer. Here are five things this week.

1. These Snails.

Skylar has been keeping a few pet snails lately. He has three in this small jar, but we are looking into getting them a large terrarium and maybe making it a snail habitat for our homeschool classroom. More on this later.

2. Hardy and Fern.

Fern (our male mallard duck) has been following Hardy around and standing "guard" next to him lately. We think it's because Fern has taken a liking to Hardy, but sometimes he pecks at him, so we are watching them closely.

3. This "Jacket."

I still can not believe how many yellow jackets, or tracker jackers, as Skylar calls them (Hunger Games reference), there are here in Oregon. It's as if the summer months hit and they are out in swarms. We've had issues in the past with the yellow jackets making their nests in the car rearview windows, garage door handle, or even in the clothes line poles. They may help with pollination, but they are annoying, to some degree.

4. These Mallards.

While getting and moving more Skylar and I have been walking down a lot of side roads and roads outside of town. These wild mallards were swimming along the roadway in the flooded ditch. They let us get just close enough before they took off. It was a nice moment I was able to capture.

5. These Ducklings.

While out getting some supplies and groceries for our house, we spotted these ducklings along the side of the road in downtown Albany, Oregon. We were kind of shocked to see them in the city, but they seemed to know what they were doing. The mother duck wasn't anywhere around at the time, but they were very alert and seemed to know how to protect themselves.

Positive affirmations this week: "What are your tips on grounding for anxiety, stress, PTDS, and/or emotion overload?"

One of the most affective ways is THC, low doses. I use a lot of CBD and THC products lately in order to help me calm myself more affectively. Sometimes I need a bit of a boost along with my breathing techniques and mind calming procedures. This flyer has a lot of great information, as well. I don't do all of these options on the flyer, but I do burn incense, use essential oils, take belly breaths, eat or drink something, laying down, or even going for a walk/run. All of these things have helped me a lot. They don't always work, but for the most part, they do.

Have a nice weekend.

Skylar and I decided to hop in the car and take an overnight trip to California during the weekend of June 24-25. We stopped at the Trees of Mystery and got a few more redwood tree saplings and ended up down in Brookings. We stayed the night in Brookings, Oregon, had lunch at a wildlife refuge, and on our way home ended up being first on the scene at a single car accident. The man fell asleep at the wheel of his car and hit the embankment and flipped. His car, which was a Jeep Cherokee, caught fire and was completely destroyed by fire. The road trip overall was a great time, but that car wreck was pretty traumatic. On a side note, Skylar and I always enjoy taking random road trips. Mostly our trips are day trips, but from the where we live to Brookings was a lot way to drive. There were parts of Highway 101 that we haven't seen before, so overall it was a nice trip.

We didn't make a lot of stops on our way to the Trees of Mystery, but once we crossed over the California border, we started to slow down some and enjoy the view. Highway 101 through this area of California is beautiful and the entire redwood area of the northern part of California is one of our favorite drives. Trees of Mystery put face masks on Babe the Ox and Paul Bunyan. We were actually happy to see that the gift shop was still open so we could get our redwood tree saplings.

Coming into Eureka, California we took some pictures of the "Ghost Train" and along the side of the road was a dead bear. I've never seen a bear alive up close, so this was almost fascinating to us. It's sad to know that it probably got hit on the road and someone pulled it to the side. It wasn't a full-grown bear, and it's sad that it met his fate to a car.

We ended up staying the night in Brookings, Oregon, and video chatting with Jeff, since he had to stay and work. It was a nice night just checking things out in and around Brookings and relaxing for a bit before driving back.

We stopped for a bit in Gold Beach, Oregon. The last time we were here we road the Rogue River Jet Boats. Gold Beach is kind of a hidden gem of Oregon, really. There's a lot of beautiful things in and around this area.

In Gold Beach, Oregon, the wreck of the Mary D. Hume sits and slowly is reclaimed back to the earth and salt water. The history of this tugboat is amazing and it's sad to see it just slowly falling apart and deteriorating. But, it had a good life when it was still functional.

We then came into Port Orford and as you can see from the sign, "Oldest Townsite on the Oregon Coast." Port Orford, Oregon, is one of my favorite little towns along the Oregon coast and Highway 101.

Not sure where this giant rock was headed, but that's the first time I've ever seen a rock this large being transported by truck on the roadway.

We stopped for lunch at a wildlife refuge in Bandon, Oregon. We pack light when we take road trips and make sure to eat foods that are filling, but won't be too unsettling in our stomachs. The items shown here are all organic, believe it, or not. They are:

We like to take the flour tortillas, spread cream cheese over one side, lay a pickle down in the middle, and roll it up. It's a quick, easy, on the road-type of snack and it's filling. You can click the images above to purchase this exact meal shown on the snack plate.

We arrived in Coos Bay, Oregon, which is about 50 miles from Port Orford. The drive along this area of Highway 101 is a bit boring, but there's still a lot of sites to see once you get to Coos Bay. We didn't stay long in Coos Bay, but took the time and checked out the pirate/fishing boats along the bay.

I'm always drawn to tiny houses and this one was sitting along the bay front in Coos Bay and we stopped to admire it. I think it would be a great adventure to travel for awhile in a small, or tiny, home across the Pacific Coast Highway. Maybe one day soon.

We stopped at the Umpqua River Lighthouse once we left Coos Bay. This lighthouse is located in an area named Winchester Bay. It was build in the mid 1800s to give a point of reference for the river head.

We stopped along the way to take some pictures of the fog and Heceta Head Lighthouse. We were really enjoying the trip until we came around the lighthouse viewpoint and saw this...

A man fell asleep at the wheel of his car and hit the embankment and flipped. As stated above, his car caught fire and burned completely. It exploded, and gas came burning out of the car like a hot torch. Skylar, me, another man and his son, as well as an off duty sheriff were right there when it happened. We helped get the man out of his car, get him stable, but there was nothing we could do about his car. He said he had been down on his luck and living in his vehicle. I felt helpless. You can read more about it in the following images. Skylar posted a story online about our experience. We are still pretty shaken up over it all. I do hope the man is going to okay and that he gets back on his feet soon. Definitely a road trip we won't be forgetting.